100903


To my understanding, in a normal non-conditional clause “どうせ” has a function
of saying that something makes the surrounding context irrelevant, similar to
“anyway” in English. As in for instance “あのパーティーにいるかどうかはどうでもいい、どうせ行かないから。” for
something like “I don't care whether he'll be at that party or not, as I won't
be going anyway.”

But I'm often encountering “どうせ” in contexts with a form of “〜だろう” attached
where it seems to have a very different meaning that I can't find anything
about in any particular resource, rather seemingly emphasizing the speakers
expects something to be the case in a dismissive way. For instance something
like “お前たちはどうせなにか企んでるだろう。” for what seems to mean something like “I bet you
guys are planning something.”, seemingly losing all of the normal connotation
of “どうせ” that it makes the surrounding context irrelevant as I often encounter
it contexts where no such implication seems to make sense.

Is my understanding correct that “どうせ” often loses this implication of marking
the surrounding context as irrelevant when coupled with “〜だろう”? or is there
more to it what I don't understand?


CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-04T08:57:28.973
100895
2023-09-05T03:05:48.033
2023-09-04T09:41:42.280
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question
word-usage adverbs modality
Trying to understand forms of “どうせ…だろう”


Yes, you are generally correct, and the comments here so far are on point as
well. If there are "more" to it as you have your doubts, it's best to exlore
use of どうせ WITHOUT だろう。You have good grasp of the grammar, now it's time to
look at the real life examples. Surprisingly few cases of どうせ ends with だろう。

どうせやるなら、派手にやろう。"If we're gonna do it, we're NOT gonna half-ass it!" (say,
imagine you are planning a party and you don't like someone planning a
sensible if mediocre party.)

どうせ私は下っ端ですよ。"Doesn't matter anyway, I'm just a peon here." Suppose you said
something profound, and you want to gripe that you are just a bottom level
worker there so what you say wouldn't make any difference.

何でも事の起りは、あの界隈の米屋の亭主が、風呂屋で、隣同志の紺屋の職人と喧嘩をしたのですな。どうせ起りは、湯がはねかったとか何とか云う、つまらない事からなのでしょう。
(Ryunosuke Attagawa, 「或日の大石内蔵助」)

How it all began was, the rice dealer got in a fight with the dyer's shop
worker next door at the public bath. I bet you it was something stupid like he
splashed his face accidentally or something like that.

Let me put a link here where you can see various uses of the word どうせ in well-
known literatures.

<https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%9B/example/2/>


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2023-09-04T15:19:14.557
100897
2023-09-04T15:19:14.557
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answer


In "どうせなにか企んでるだろう", the word どうせ carries nuances like "I know it, so there's
no need to think much about this matter" or "Whatever you guys say doesn't
matter". Therefore, it still can be understood based on the basic meaning of
"irrespective of the surrounding context, the conclusion is inevitable". In
English, phrases such as "be that as it may", "whatever you may say", "at the
end of the day", or "after all" might be similar.


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2023-09-05T03:05:48.033
100903
2023-09-05T03:05:48.033
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answer